This concise guide outlines the differences between UX vs UI design, and what careers in these fields can offer.
With the way the world has been heading, careers that revolve around web design and development might be among the most stable and profitable. With their consumer bases being drawn online by social media sites, the unlimited and convenient access to information, and the prime service being provided by websites like Amazon, small businesses and corporations alike are re-evaluating their web design to draw in more people.
UX vs UI: more demand for both
A well-designed website is absolutely key to the success of any business in the 21st century, and web architects with the proper know-how are in higher demand than ever.
The pandemic accelerated the progression of our society towards doing most of our business on the net, transitioning schools to online settings, conferences to zoom calls, and restricting safe commerce to online commerce. As a result, excellent website design has never been more vital; and with the ways that our world continues to change as the pandemic mutates, it will likely become even more important moving forward.
UX vs UI: what’s the difference?
If you’re one of the people looking to change your career in the wake of the pandemic, you might have already considered web design, but don’t really know where to start looking into it.
A good place to start is with understanding the differences between UX vs UI. Put simply, these are user experience designers (or UX) and user interface designers (UI), the two groups of webpage designers that make up the backbone of the profession.
UX vs UI: Which career is for you?
UX Designers: The “Idea People”
UX Designers are the idea people, the people whose job is to think about the customer’s experience from the home page to clicking the little X at the corner of the screen. Their job is to construct a framework for a website that is simple and easy to navigate, yet pleasing for the customer.
Anything that might negatively affect the execution of that goal is planned for, as UX designers come up with detailed strategies to iron out the kinks in their design. When it comes to the relationship between UX vs UI, it’s important to understand that UX designers do a lot of the groundwork, but UI designers are needed to finish the product: think of the work UX designers do as a skeleton that needs muscles and skin.
UI Designers: The Mechanics, or Realists
UI Designers take the blueprints that the UX designers have drawn up and add flesh to them, fleshing out a fully functional experience for the customer. UI Designers are the ones who deal with the aesthetics of the website and the ones who translate the ideas of the UX designers into reality: as such, they are typically practical people who can focus on the minute details, whereas UX designers are more big picture people.
They design the interactive interface that takes customers through the website, but they also handle the final polish of the product, making decisions on details like color schemes, font themes, and other things that affect the overall appearance of the site. When it comes to looking at the work of UX vs UI: without a solid UI, even the most effective UX in the world would be nothing: UI draws customers to the site and keeps them there.
Bootcamps
If any of this sounds appealing to you, you might want to consider attending a web-design Bootcamp. UX and UI Bootcamps can teach you all the necessary skills to switch to a web-design career for a lower price than most 2 and 4-year college programs and have you ready to change careers quicker. They’re available all across the U.S., meaning there’s likely one where you are, and if you prefer a remote option amid the pandemic, they have remote options as well.
If you believe a Bootcamp might work for you, or if you’re looking to switch careers quickly, these are highly recommended.
UX vs UI salaries
First of all, we assumed that both professions would probably receive a similar amount of earnings. However, this turned out not to be quite correct when looking at or comparing current figures across job listings for UX vs UI. Surprisingly, UX designers earn a lot more than their colleagues in interface design, both by number of employees and by professional experience.
The median in the professional field of UX Design is around $60,000, while the value in the interface area is around $50,000. (All figures are gross years.)
There is some interesting information as well as further information on the earnings relationship between UX vs UI that parallels the factors of academics and non-academics.
First of all, it should be noted that user interface design is often part of an entire user experience, which can lead to UX sometimes taking over the tasks of UI. In addition, UX can also work without a UI, the other way around, this is rarely the case. Therefore, it seems that user experience design is a little more common than user interface design — possibly a reason why UX can earn more money.
Another reason for the quite high pay differences in UX vs UI could be the educational background, i.e. academic versus non-academics. For example, UX designers may sometimes enter the profession across the profession and originally come from the psychological field of activity. UI designers, on the other hand, often learn as part of a design study or a graphic design education.
However, the assumption that salaries are also more similar with the same education is not necessarily supported by the figures. The former also earn more among the academics of the UX vs UI, although the difference is not quite as high.
In the end, we can only assume that one factor in the difference between UX vs UI salaries is that user interface design is the newer profession and the employees in general are simply younger here, which is why salaries are lower.
Conclusion
If any of this sounds like it might be a good fit for you, it may be a good idea to switch careers; with the ongoing transition of most facets of life to online spaces, web designers of both disciplines are only going to become more valuable.
UX vs UI design are two completely different yet complementary fields that are excellent matches for divergent personality types. If you can find the match for you, go for it; the working world is in desperate need of web designers, and you might just fit the bill.
